Test drove the 335is - wow!

I would have to agree with the others. The sound of the 335is exhaust sealed the deal for me. I just bought mine last month. I'm not sure how much faster it really is over the 335i, but it certainly feels more powerful.

............35 extra horsepower is 35 extra horsepower.

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I'm just about convinced that I should go with a 335i coupe, maybe with the M package. Still, I have to admit, I really like the DCT. It's the first "automatic" in forty years that I like.

AN UPDATE!

Last October I bought the 335is and took delivery in Munich.

Now that I have lived with the car a few months I can't imagine buying a 335i. My concern over the loud exhaust has morphed into enjoyment every time I accelerate and hear that growl. Yet when cruising at 80 mph in top gear the exhaust is barely audible. As I get acclimated to the car I have to say that it is not too powerful for everyday driving.

Oh, and I got the MT6 even though I like the DCT. Why? Because the car is more fun to drive with MT. Going through gears with that short-throw shifter is just sooooo cool! However, for anyone tracking the car the DCT would be the better choice.

Bottom line: I LOVE this car! It's the most exciting set of wheels I have ever owned - better than my 1964 corvette, my 1970 911, or my 1991 300ZX.

Now that I have lived with the car a few months I can't imagine buying a 335i. My concern over the loud exhaust has morphed into enjoyment every time I accelerate and hear that growl. Yet when cruising at 80 mph in top gear the exhaust is barely audible.

As one who did choose a 335i, I can help you there. The exhaust note of the N55 is much improved over the old, standard-tune N54. It has a less restricted tone overall, a definite but still-civilized "rap" when pushed a bit and positively snarls when you stand on it. (And on cold starts, it wakes up just plain angry. )

I always thought the N54 was too muted (prior to the 'is) and planned to have a BMW Performance exhaust installed on arrival at the VPC. The moment I fired it up at the Welt (I took delivery just days before you) I thought, "hel-lo ... that's different." By the second day I knew I wouldn't change a thing.

No-one at the dealership knew the change was coming but everyone has remarked on it. I can't help but wonder whether the raves for the 335is prompted BMW to tweak the N55's sound in that direction. So I thank you, for endorsing that wonderful noise with your purchase.

Bottom line: I LOVE this car! It's the most exciting set of wheels I have ever owned - better than my 1964 corvette, my 1970 911, or my 1991 300ZX.

Glad to hear it! I share your enthusiasm 100%--and have the filling-station receipts to prove it!

My wife and I were initially looking at a 335i sedan. We went to the San Diego Auto Show in late December and saw a 335is on the floor and loved the way it looked. She wanted a sedan because she had always had a sedan and she had really wanted a sedan when she bought a Toyota Solara coupe 12 years ago. (Long story, I hated that car with the first month.)

We went to a dealer to drive the 335i sedan, but also took the opportunity to follow that with a drive in the 335is coupe. We really liked the sedan but the 335is coupe blew us away! The exhaust note was exhilarating! After pointing out to her that the coupe underwent a restyling last year and that it looked much better than the sedan, and besides, she lived with the coupe for 12 years and it wasn't a horrible experience, she agreed and was now sold on the coupe. Shortly after, I suggested that if we were going to buy the coupe, why not the is coupe?

My wife and I were initially looking at a 335i sedan. We went to the San Diego Auto Show in late December and saw a 335is on the floor and loved the way it looked. She wanted a sedan because she had always had a sedan and she had really wanted a sedan when she bought a Toyota Solara coupe 12 years ago. (Long story, I hated that car with the first month.)

We went to a dealer to drive the 335i sedan, but also took the opportunity to follow that with a drive in the 335is coupe. We really liked the sedan but the 335is coupe blew us away! The exhaust note was exhilarating! After pointing out to her that the coupe underwent a restyling last year and that it looked much better than the sedan, and besides, she lived with the coupe for 12 years and it wasn't a horrible experience. She agreed and was now sold on the coupe. Shortly after, I suggested that if we were going to buy the coupe, why not the is coupe?

Now that I have lived with the car a few months I can't imagine buying a 335i. My concern over the loud exhaust has morphed into enjoyment every time I accelerate and hear that growl. Yet when cruising at 80 mph in top gear the exhaust is barely audible. As I get acclimated to the car I have to say that it is not too powerful for everyday driving.

Oh, and I got the MT6 even though I like the DCT. Why? Because the car is more fun to drive with MT. Going through gears with that short-throw shifter is just sooooo cool! However, for anyone tracking the car the DCT would be the better choice.

Bottom line: I LOVE this car! It's the most exciting set of wheels I have ever owned - better than my 1964 corvette, my 1970 911, or my 1991 300ZX.

The wheels are great! I regret getting the DCT and not the 6MT myself. I think I was drawn to the fact that one could not have the DCT on any BMW but the M3. Classic case of wanting what you can't have.

I still think the DCT has created a category all its own -- not a manual transmission, but not quite an automatic either.

In my view, trying to pigeonhole a DCT in either category either misses the point, or does the technology a complete disservice by miscategorizing it. Calling a DCT an automatic transmission is just as incorrect as calling it a manual transmission. It's like telling someone that they can't enjoy more than one flavor of ice cream. Preferring chocolate doesn't mean I can't also appreciate a bowl of Neopolitan or Butter Pecan.

A true (or traditional) automatic transmission requires a torque converter of some kind in lieu of a clutch in order to temporarily disengage the engine from the rest of the drivetrain. A DCT has no torque converter because it doesn't use one, and the dual clutch design doesn't meet the definition of one either any more than it meets the definition of a conventional clutch on a regular manual transmission.

It's not quite an automatic, and not quite a manual transmission. What is it, then? It's a dual-clutch transmission or a DCT. DCT seems to do as much to properly identify the transmission itself as it does to identify what family of transmissions it belongs to.

Another example. I have red hair. You can't say that because I'm not a blonde, I must be a brunette; or that because I am not a brunette I must be a blonde. I'm neither. I'm a redhead, born and raised. A redhead is its own category of hair color.

Oh my! I backed out of that a few YEARS ago for two reasons: a) I consulted a few other e32 owners who had done this swap that said that while this swap is definitely doable, the clutch effort (the amount of leg pressure needed to engage the clutch, releasing the engine from the drivetrain) is a bit of the heavy side, resulting in an occasional leg cramp after long periods of driving. b) That and it was determined that manual transmissions aren't always the greatest in heavily urban environments or stop and go traffic, both of which describe my driving environment. Manual transmissions truly shine at their best on open roads where the car can truly "stretch out its legs and run."

The electronically controlled four speed automatic in my 750iL actually had more going FOR it than AGAINST it. In the end, I decided to keep its transmission configuration just the way BMW intended.

By the way, the transmission in the E32 750iL does have a manual mode, engaged by a three position slide/push switch on the base of the console, near the shift lever. When in manual mode, the electronics will hold the transmission in any of four manually selected gears along the gear selection track. In this fashion, the transmission will function very much like a clutchless manual transmission.

Maybe if more people realized there are more than two choices of anything (Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, black or white, chocolate or vanilla), we'd have a much more open minded and enlightened society.

To blur the distinction even further both Mercedes and ZF have introduced automatic transmissions that use planetary gear sets but have replaced the torque converter with a multi-plate clutch.

CA

The Drivers Club at Lime Rock
The Glen Club
Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society
International Motor Racing Research Center
Sports Car Club of America

If it's a custom order, there is a strong incentive for the dealer to sell from dealer stock because they pay an inventory fee to the factory (basically "rent' on their floorspace) on a car until it's sold. So if they can sell a car off the lot, they can get that rent paid off and it's no longer eating into their dealer profits.

If it was from dealer stock, probably slightly lower commission on cars without a sunroof are a little bit cheaper.

Please check out my new science fiction adventure story now online at http://www.xybears.com. Your help and support with this would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

If it's a custom order, there is a strong incentive for the dealer to sell from dealer stock because they pay an inventory fee to the factory (basically "rent' on their floorspace) on a car until it's sold. So if they can sell a car off the lot, they can get that rent paid off and it's no longer eating into their dealer profits.

If it was from dealer stock, probably slightly lower commission on cars without a sunroof are a little bit cheaper.

Dealer's "own" the cars on their lot. They have a loan from a bank to finance their inventory, or they have mad cash, but if BMW is like all other manufacuters, they do not loan dealers anything.

I know the manual is lighter and more direct, and the conventional auto trans is heavy and all that, but with the dual clutch trans, you get instant shifts and you will never miss a downshift --- instant money saved!!! A 6-speed manual has lots of missed-downshift opportunities that ya won't have to worry about with a DTC. They're complicated though, so save here, spend there? I guess a DTC repair isn't as ugly as a blown engine on yer favorite highway...

I know the manual is lighter and more direct, and the conventional auto trans is heavy and all that, but with the dual clutch trans, you get instant shifts and you will never miss a downshift --- instant money saved!!! A 6-speed manual has lots of missed-downshift opportunities that ya won't have to worry about with a DTC. They're complicated though, so save here, spend there? I guess a DTC repair isn't as ugly as a blown engine on yer favorite highway...

Last time I heard, from a dealership service standpoint, there's no such thing as a "DCT repair."

If you know any of these extremely valuable DCT dealership repair technicians, please introduce them to your fellow BMW CCA members. These guys might as well be heart and brain surgeons of the BMW world.

Instead, these DCT transmissions are being REPLACED, not repaired. Due to the level of complexity and the sheer amount of time it would take to remove these transmissions, disassemble them for repair, then reassemble them and reinstall them back in the car, I have yet to see a dealership that has the amount of time necessary to do all this -- let alone do it on a "while you wait" basis from the customer standpoint. Have you seen a dealership service department lately? Most of the time, a dealership service bay is backed up days in advance. It's probably not realistic to imagine a dealership service bay with technicians in the back playing cards waiting for a DCT transmission to spend several hours repairing.

What will you do while your DCT-equipped car is sitting on the service bay's back lot waiting for that replacement DCT to be shipped in? Dealerships don't exactly have this very large and very expensive component gathering dust in their dealership parts department.

Instead, the last time I heard, the dealership repair "solution" is to remove the worn or defective transmission, charge YOU (yes, that would be YOU, Mr. "DCT Advantage") $14,000 (for the transmission) plus labor.

Got a spare $14,000 plus labor sitting around doing nothing? If so, great. If not, might be something you should budget for before preaching about the "savings" of owning a DCT transmission equipped car.

At least with a conventional six speed manual transmission, BMW DIY'ers have been doing this sort of service/replace/repair since BMW's had CARBURETORS under the hood.

The how-to book on "DTC transmission repair for Dummies" hasn't appeared on the shelves yet.

Please check out my new science fiction adventure story now online at http://www.xybears.com. Your help and support with this would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Last time I heard, from a dealership service standpoint, there's no such thing as a "DCT repair."

If you know any of these extremely valuable DCT dealership repair technicians, please introduce them to your fellow BMW CCA members. These guys might as well be heart and brain surgeons of the BMW world.

Instead, these DCT transmissions are being REPLACED, not repaired. Due to the level of complexity and the sheer amount of time it would take to remove these transmissions, disassemble them for repair, then reassemble them and reinstall them back in the car, I have yet to see a dealership that has the amount of time necessary to do all this -- let alone do it on a "while you wait" basis from the customer standpoint. Have you seen a dealership service department lately? Most of the time, a dealership service bay is backed up days in advance. It's probably not realistic to imagine a dealership service bay with technicians in the back playing cards waiting for a DCT transmission to spend several hours repairing.

What will you do while your DCT-equipped car is sitting on the service bay's back lot waiting for that replacement DCT to be shipped in? Dealerships don't exactly have this very large and very expensive component gathering dust in their dealership parts department.

Instead, the last time I heard, the dealership repair "solution" is to remove the worn or defective transmission, charge YOU (yes, that would be YOU, Mr. "DCT Advantage") $14,000 (for the transmission) plus labor.

Got a spare $14,000 plus labor sitting around doing nothing? If so, great. If not, might be something you should budget for before preaching about the "savings" of owning a DCT transmission equipped car.

At least with a conventional six speed manual transmission, BMW DIY'ers have been doing this sort of service/replace/repair since BMW's had CARBURETORS under the hood.

The how-to book on "DTC transmission repair for Dummies" hasn't appeared on the shelves yet.